This invention relates to systems for producing graphics displays. More particularly, this invention relates to systems for assisting an engineer in producing graphic displays useful in automatic test equipment and for generating test program sets to facilitate generation of the required graphics displays.
The high resolution colorgraphic terminals being supplied with new generation automatic test equipment (ATE) provide an opportunity to significantly improve the quantity and quality of the information the ATE station operator receives This becomes important with the increasing complexity of the Units Under Test (UUT) and the ATE equipment designed to test them. Densely populated component boards create the potential for incorrect circuit or pin identification. Detailed graphics can help operators locate components and provide important information or warnings immediately, so the operator does not have to stop and consult hard copy documentation. Intelligently produced graphics reduce the chance of operator error and speeds the entire testing process. This information may consist of self test displays, interconnection diagrams, adjustment displays and board layouts and should guide the operator through each step of the test procedure. Test programs that do not require much intervention from the operator may not require extensive graphics; however, all test programs require the operator to power up the station and connect interface devices and can benefit from online instructions and diagrams.
Although substantial graphics capability is being provided with some ATE stations, operator displays tend to be simplistic and do not fully utilize the graphics system. This is due to the difficulty involved in programming a sophisticated graphics display. Generating ATE displays manually requires a laborious and time consuming programming effort with even relatively simple displays taking weeks to program and debug. Graphics programming is essentially trial and error and it is difficult to predict how a display will appear until it is run on station. The need to code the intricate graphics portions of the test program and the need to verify these portions by compiling, testing and modifying lengthens integration time, increases the burden on the test programmer and distracts him from his primary task of analyzing the UUT and developing a testing strategy. This drives up test program set (TPS) production costs.
In an Automatic Test Language For All Systems (ATLAS) test program that includes probing illustrations and detailed UUT hook up information, up to 25% of the program may be devoted to the drawing and control of graphic displays. Graphics programs are highly "device dependent;" i.e., displays created for one type of terminal usually will not operate on another. This presents a problem in terms of test program compatibility and portability. These problems also drive up the cost of producing test program sets and lead to a limited use of colorgraphics.
In order to control costs, test programmers rely on "canned" routines. These are generated routines that only indicate the current test status. If more detailed instruction graphics are required they are then referenced in the available printed materials. This requires the operator to stop, locate, and read the appropriate manual before he can continue It is desirable to provide as much online instructional material as possible but a completely interactive set of instructions graphics has been too costly to produce. These factors lead to an under-utilization of the available graphic display system and an ineffective user interface.
In manual display preparation, generally, after the test strategy is defined and the required operator actions known, the engineer can begin creating the interface for the program. He begins by first planning the displays or diagram sequence on sheets of graph paper with the screen coordinates marked on the paper. Everything that appears on the screen must be built out of the basic graphic primitives such as vectors, circles, rectangles, polygons, text, etc. Using the ATLAS graphic extensions each display layout is coded into a subprogram. The following statements are typical of the graphic extension statements provided by RADCOM and CATIII-D ATLAS dialects;
012345 DRAW, RECTANGLE BOUNDED BY PA1 012345 DRAW, CIRCLE AT p1, p2 PA1 012345 DRAW, IMAGE AT p1, p2
p1, p2 AND p3, p4 PA2 AT p1, p2 OF LENGTH n1, n2 $ PA2 OF RADIUS n $ PA2 USING n ELEMENTS FROM PA2 `list` (index) $
The manually generated display is combined with other displays to form a sequence. Component identification displays require figure positional maps and other data and control structures. The display programs are integrated with the main test program and then tested on the ATE station, modified, and tested again until all the displays perform as expected. A great deal of time and effort is spent in translating the visual layout into an executable form. The goal of any automated system is to eliminate graphics coding by the TPS engineer and to provide a means for testing display programs without tying up ATE resources.
It is also desirable for a graphics display program to support multilayered graphics; that is for the user to be able to arbitrarily display a symbol in a different manner to provide additional information to the user of the automatic test system. Generally, program test sets supporting such multilayered displays are even more complex and costly to write, test and verify than single level displays.